Yep, it's been a while - butt is clearly still very lazy.
I came here to start blogging about something (oooohhhh mysterious) but decided the last entry deserved a bit of an update -
2010
#01 01/03 mika @ hammersmith apollo
#02 11/03 stereophonics @ wembley arena
#03 18/03 mgmt @ heaven
#04 06/05 ash @ koko
#05 13/05 the big pink @ the forum
#06 21/05 faithless @ brixton o2 academy
#07 04/06 powderfinger @ brixton o2 academy
#08 05/06 powderfinger @ brixton o2 academy
#09 08/06 crowded house @ hammersmith apollo
#10 23/06 scissor sisters @ brixton o2 academy
#11 24/06 jamiroquai @ club debut (miraculously managed to get through and buy these limited tickets for dirt cheap!)
#12 04/07 foals/2 door cinema club @ roundhouse (won itunes festival tickets! yay!)
#13 12/07 the temper trap @ somerset house (thanks to wonderful vivian for having an amex)
#na 13/07 the middle east @ bush hall (didn't end up going to this because 1 - no one to go with, 2 - already saw them with ttt the night before, and 3 - we were moving house the coming weekend and some serious packing needed to be done... or started...)
#14 15/07 florence @ somerset house
#15 27/08 reading festival
#16 09/09 white rabbits @ relentless garage (so so glad they scheduled a warmup gig last minute!)
#17 11/09 muse @ wembley stadium
#18 22/09 2 door cinema club @ shepherds bush o2 academy
#19 02/10 mumford & sons @ manchester apollo (after having already toured the uk a few times I didn't think they would squeeze in one more round - again so so glad they did!)
#20 04/10 lifehouse @ shepherds bush o2 academy
#21 23/10 mark ronson & the bus. intl @ hmv forum (won tickets! free gig!)
#22 03/11 the black keys @ brixton academy (thanks jim for the free tickets)
#23 27/11 primal scream @ olympia
#24 30/11 the hoosiers @ hmv forum (won tickets *again*!)
so the final count went from 17 to 24...
And 2011? I think the loss of my gigging stalwart (aka Vivian) really will mean that I'm not going to be so gig crazy - really :) So far I only have Lifehouse (yes I really do need to see them again) and Take That. And with Take That I didn't even buy the tickets on the first, or second release of tickets, being rather dubious about whether I really wanted to see them given the cringeworthy duet Robbie and Gary had done, and seeing the very bizarre and cringeworthy video clip for The Flood. But when they released another (final?) round of tickets, I thought I'd try my luck, and I am now the owner of two (currently virtual) tickets to see Take That. I'd been dreading listening to their album for the aforementioned reasons, as well as being slightly disappointed by the reformed TT's 2nd album. But like a good TT supporter I still learnt to enjoy the circus, and thoroughly enjoyed myself at their gig (I did go 3 times... they really do put on a good show!). But I decided to bite the bullet a couple of weeks ago, and acquire the album to give it a listen. And it was surprising. I really think The Flood is a great song now (ignore the video clip). It has some rather dark material in it and their sound has become very electric, clearly Robbie's influence for the former, and likely for the latter too. The first half of the album is actually really good. Second half, is ok, but overall, I am really surprised at how good this album is.
Showing posts with label gigs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gigs. Show all posts
Sunday, 9 January 2011
Sunday, 10 February 2008
plain white ts
For some reason I thought that only liking one song by a particular band is a good enough reason to buy tickets to their gig. Unfortunately by the time the gig came around I was not really into that one song anymore, and I was thankful that my ticket cost me less than a movie ticket in Leicester Square. Luckily Clara's taste is a little less discerning than mine and her excitement at getting out and going to a gig made me a little less apprehensive about the night out. In the end, it wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. Being there made me feel quite old - the floor was full of teenagers and the support band were only babies! However there is always a counterweight - we were standing next to a woman who must have been in her 40s at least, and she knew all the words to nearly all their songs...
Monday, 28 January 2008
looking back - part 2
So where part 1 was all about travel, part 2 is about remembering the theatre and gigs...
Swimming With Sharks (Vaudeville Theatre)
This was our first venture into London theatre, and I really only bought tickets for this because it had Christian Slater in it and I was all caught up in the 'must-see-show-with-famous-Hollywood-actor-in-it' fever that I'd created for myself. I'm not actually a fan of Christian Slater and I think he looks even weirder now in his old(er) age.. something about his eyes and hairline I think. As the play unfolded I had the strangest sense of deja vu as I felt as though I'd seen it before, not on stage, but on tv late at night (the tv no one watches unless they're suffering from boredom or insomnia). Turns out I really had seen it before - Swimming With Sharks
Les Miserables (Queens Theatre)
I don't think it would ever be possible not to thoroughly enjoy a West End production of Les Mis, and it almost lived up to expectations. I was slightly disappointed with the orchestra - having a small musical ensemble meant they relied too heavily on the synthesiser, whose thin 'plastic' sound was not quite able to match the grandeur required at those crucial dramatic moments. Despite this and our not-so-great seats, I still loved it.
Avenue Q (Noel Coward Theatre)
I've always had a soft spot for muppets, and while these are not Jim Henson muppets, they were still very endearing and it was a hilarious show. We marvelled at the skill that must be required of the muppeteer (I don't think this is a real word - but think puppeteer for muppets) as they artfully maneuvered the muppets while singing and running about all over the stage all at the same time.
My favourite Avenue Q muppets:
Macbeth (Gielgud Theatre)
So the main drawcard here was Patrick Stewart as Macbeth (or as hubby likes to say 'Jean Luuuuuc!' or 'Captain Picaaaard!' - both of which mean nothing to me). The seat nazi in me was very upset about having dithered and delayed the purchase of the tickets (did I really want to pay full price for these tickets...), for if I had bought the tickets a week earlier, we would have been 2 rows away from Patrick Stewart, rather than the 15 odd rows away. But they were decent enough seats and Patrick Stewart was an excellent Macbeth - even when someone's mobile phone rang for a good 15 seconds during one of his soliloquies he only lapsed for a split second. I think everyone in the theatre wanted to thump the person who not only left their mobile phone on, but couldn't seem to find it for what seemed like an age. I found their choice of actor for Malcolm a bit unusual - a bit too prim and proper, he looked and acted like a younger, slightly skinnier version of Stephen Fry, not really someone you can rally behind to bring Macbeth down.
Newton Faulkner (Shepherd's Bush Empire)
I used to listen to Virgin Radio when I first started work (now it's BBC Radio 1) and I fell in love with Dream Catch Me, then All I Gotta Do, and then suddenly I found myself booking tickets to see the local lad. I managed to get my hands on most of the songs from his album, but after listening to them I found there were some songs that just didn't do it for me. So when the concert came around, I brought hubby along with a very small amount of trepidation (note that our music tastes are at times on opposite ends of the spectrum). However I needn't have worried as Newton is such a talented musician and the live performances of all his songs were so much better than the produced versions on the album. And to top the night off, hubby was even singing some of his songs on the way home after the concert.
Powderfinger (Hammersmith Apollo)
Was amazing! I don't know that I would have ever gone to see Powderfinger back home, but when I saw they were playing at a venue less than a 15 minute walk away from home, and that tix were only £22.50 I thought why not? (Side note: when you do the conversion, it's not really worthy of only status, but my entire value system has been in a bit of disarray since moving here. You could take into account the exchange rate, the differing salary levels, the cost of living and countless more variables, but in the end I just think £22.50 sounds like a pretty good deal.) And what made a good night a great night was that they played the 2 songs hubby most wanted to hear, and the 2 songs I most wanted to hear.
Swimming With Sharks (Vaudeville Theatre)
This was our first venture into London theatre, and I really only bought tickets for this because it had Christian Slater in it and I was all caught up in the 'must-see-show-with-famous-Hollywood-actor-in-it' fever that I'd created for myself. I'm not actually a fan of Christian Slater and I think he looks even weirder now in his old(er) age.. something about his eyes and hairline I think. As the play unfolded I had the strangest sense of deja vu as I felt as though I'd seen it before, not on stage, but on tv late at night (the tv no one watches unless they're suffering from boredom or insomnia). Turns out I really had seen it before - Swimming With Sharks
Les Miserables (Queens Theatre)
I don't think it would ever be possible not to thoroughly enjoy a West End production of Les Mis, and it almost lived up to expectations. I was slightly disappointed with the orchestra - having a small musical ensemble meant they relied too heavily on the synthesiser, whose thin 'plastic' sound was not quite able to match the grandeur required at those crucial dramatic moments. Despite this and our not-so-great seats, I still loved it.
Avenue Q (Noel Coward Theatre)
I've always had a soft spot for muppets, and while these are not Jim Henson muppets, they were still very endearing and it was a hilarious show. We marvelled at the skill that must be required of the muppeteer (I don't think this is a real word - but think puppeteer for muppets) as they artfully maneuvered the muppets while singing and running about all over the stage all at the same time.
My favourite Avenue Q muppets:
Macbeth (Gielgud Theatre)
So the main drawcard here was Patrick Stewart as Macbeth (or as hubby likes to say 'Jean Luuuuuc!' or 'Captain Picaaaard!' - both of which mean nothing to me). The seat nazi in me was very upset about having dithered and delayed the purchase of the tickets (did I really want to pay full price for these tickets...), for if I had bought the tickets a week earlier, we would have been 2 rows away from Patrick Stewart, rather than the 15 odd rows away. But they were decent enough seats and Patrick Stewart was an excellent Macbeth - even when someone's mobile phone rang for a good 15 seconds during one of his soliloquies he only lapsed for a split second. I think everyone in the theatre wanted to thump the person who not only left their mobile phone on, but couldn't seem to find it for what seemed like an age. I found their choice of actor for Malcolm a bit unusual - a bit too prim and proper, he looked and acted like a younger, slightly skinnier version of Stephen Fry, not really someone you can rally behind to bring Macbeth down.
Newton Faulkner (Shepherd's Bush Empire)
I used to listen to Virgin Radio when I first started work (now it's BBC Radio 1) and I fell in love with Dream Catch Me, then All I Gotta Do, and then suddenly I found myself booking tickets to see the local lad. I managed to get my hands on most of the songs from his album, but after listening to them I found there were some songs that just didn't do it for me. So when the concert came around, I brought hubby along with a very small amount of trepidation (note that our music tastes are at times on opposite ends of the spectrum). However I needn't have worried as Newton is such a talented musician and the live performances of all his songs were so much better than the produced versions on the album. And to top the night off, hubby was even singing some of his songs on the way home after the concert.
Powderfinger (Hammersmith Apollo)
Was amazing! I don't know that I would have ever gone to see Powderfinger back home, but when I saw they were playing at a venue less than a 15 minute walk away from home, and that tix were only £22.50 I thought why not? (Side note: when you do the conversion, it's not really worthy of only status, but my entire value system has been in a bit of disarray since moving here. You could take into account the exchange rate, the differing salary levels, the cost of living and countless more variables, but in the end I just think £22.50 sounds like a pretty good deal.) And what made a good night a great night was that they played the 2 songs hubby most wanted to hear, and the 2 songs I most wanted to hear.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)